PETA Germany has issued a statement (in German) decrying the ability to kill animals in Battlefield 3, specifying an incident where the player stabs a rat with a combat knife. They mention the (according to our translation) "brutalizing" effect this can have on the game's "young male target audience" (Battlefield 3 is rating USK 18 in Germany), and note that cruelty to animals has been shown to lead to violence toward people. It seems this ignores that the game itself is centered around violence toward other people. Thanks James via BF3Blog.

Jonny wrote on Nov 7, 2011, 18:47:Really, these people need to be rounded up and dropped in some wilderness village somewhere, see how Vegan they stay when they don't know where the next meal is coming from.

That doesn't make much sense. Drop them in a place where they don't have a choice and see if they remain Vegan? Most wouldn't, that goes without saying. However, they DO have a choice, so they make that choice. By removing choice you could replace "vegan" with anything and still use that sentence. "Let's see how much those bookworms still love their precious books if we drop them in a remote village where there aren't any and they have to get their entertainment elsewhere!"

As a vegetarian I can say that my level of health spiked up dramatically after dropping meats; and while this isn't to say that meat is inherently unhealthy (there are studies out there to read on that subject if you care enough to do so) my family and I are living proof that meat is almost completely unnecessary. You just need to plan ahead to be certain that you are putting suitable replacement foods into your diet to account for the change in eating habits.

My point was that they can make that choice purely because the society we live in allows them to make that lifestyle choice. As far as I'm concerned anyone is perfectly entitled to eat any diet they like, it's none of my business. However when they make it an ethical issue then I'd say to them they're doing it because it's easy and if they ever had to choose between eating an animal or starving, I'm guessing most would chow down along with everyone else.

Making an ethical stand is easy to do when it's easy, was the root of my comment.

Rhino wrote on Nov 7, 2011, 20:28:As a vegetarian I can say that my level of health spiked up dramatically after dropping meats; and while this isn't to say that meat is inherently unhealthy (there are studies out there to read on that subject if you care enough to do so) my family and I are living proof that meat is almost completely unnecessary. You just need to plan ahead to be certain that you are putting suitable replacement foods into your diet to account for the change in eating habits.

"Blah, blah, blah... I'm a hippy... blah, blah, blah." I object on principle to being a vegetarian, primarily because I find the majority of vegetarians I've encountered to be pretentious pricks. Sure there must be many that aren't but I find that vegetarians tend to be very arrogant and very forceful of their beliefs. Vegetarianism is verging on a religion and groups like PETA demonstrates the extremes.

I happily eat rabbit, lamb, boar, duck, kangaroo, and veal and have absolutely no guilt for doing so. But I'm also just as happy eating hummus, vegetable soup, breads, porridge and root veg. I have a normal, balanced diet and won't apologise for it. Which reminds me, pork and cider sausages for dinner tonight... yum, yum.

I remember that scene. What struck me about it was how it was obviously not the character's first choice to kill the rat. He spent quite a bit of time trying to shoo it away or discourage it, and only stabbed it once the squeaking got so loud that would reveal his position.

While I feel sorry for the imaginary rat, he was a bit of a dick. Oh, and I also feel sorry for the 500 Russians and Arabs I killed over the course of the game. I guess.

I've also heard reports that some TREES get blown up! This is an outrage! Why can't we have a game where the winner is determined by oragami skill and not destroying imaginary things on the computer screen?

Thank you, PETA, for being awesome! I am going to call all of the pest-control businesses in the phone book and tell them that they are doing it wrong.

We're omnivores. We function best in balance with vegetation and animal protein and fat. Most, if not all, problems with meat today is related to the quality of the meat - whcih from the big biz feedlot corps is abyssmal to say the least. Check out what farms like White Oaks are doing. All natural, grass-fed, hormone free animals raised on the serengheti model, slaughtered very humanely and in small numbers. This is how we're suppsoed to eat.

Jonny wrote on Nov 7, 2011, 18:47:Really, these people need to be rounded up and dropped in some wilderness village somewhere, see how Vegan they stay when they don't know where the next meal is coming from.

That doesn't make much sense. Drop them in a place where they don't have a choice and see if they remain Vegan? Most wouldn't, that goes without saying. However, they DO have a choice, so they make that choice. By removing choice you could replace "vegan" with anything and still use that sentence. "Let's see how much those bookworms still love their precious books if we drop them in a remote village where there aren't any and they have to get their entertainment elsewhere!"

As a vegetarian I can say that my level of health spiked up dramatically after dropping meats; and while this isn't to say that meat is inherently unhealthy (there are studies out there to read on that subject if you care enough to do so) my family and I are living proof that meat is almost completely unnecessary. You just need to plan ahead to be certain that you are putting suitable replacement foods into your diet to account for the change in eating habits.

Cutter wrote on Nov 7, 2011, 15:46:I'm a PETA member. People for Eating Tasty Animals.

Heh, the other day I saw a "Go Vegan" ad where they had a picture of a dog and a pig and the caption reads "Why love one animal and eat another?" And I'm thinking, 'Does someone really need to explain why this is the case, not just with people but other animals as well?' Hey bud, the universe is a violent place and something always has to die so that something else can live. Sucks, huh? Get a fucking helmet.

They really come out with shit like that? I thought trophic levels were high school biology?

Basically eating an animal that needs to be fed on animals, like a dog, is ridiculously inefficient and only makes sense in places with a serious lack of protein sources. Whereas herbivores and true omnivores like pigs that can be raised on vegetable matter are an order of magnitude more efficient.

Also some, like horses and dogs, are valuable more for their service than their meat. Really, these people need to be rounded up and dropped in some wilderness village somewhere, see how Vegan they stay when they don't know where the next meal is coming from.

Lets see, 1/3rd of Africa is dying due to famine, a huge earthquake just hit Turkey(?) killing many, Japan is still a mess, brutal poverty on every continent on the planet...... but killing a fucking digital dog deserves a press release and action by these "volunteers".

I'm eating an extra helping of meat tonight just to spite these assholes.